Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki has asked the government to strategise ways to help internet fraudsters, known as Yahoo boys re-directed their energy into positive activites.
He said those involved in internet fraud are very intelligent people and should be helped to channel their skills into legitimate businesses.
Obaseki, who spoke at a town hall meeting on Edo State Education Policy on Friday, explained that he does not condemn those involved in the criminal activity, rather, there is a need to investigate the root cause of the trend.
According to him, “I am not condemning those involved. There must be a reason why that culture has become so prolific in Edo State. We must find the root cause and address them as we did in the days of trafficking.
“Let’s see how we can correct it because these children must be very brilliant. The kind of things they do, how they hack into other people’s accounts. How do we re-direct that thinking into something more positive?”
He explained that his administration would employ ways to tackle cybercrime in the state while noting that he would set a meeting with the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to profer a solution.
